On a hot sweaty night in Abu Dhabi last month, Australia were looking good against United Arab Emirates. A well-organised team was composed and confident, yet just couldn’t get the goal that make the difference.
And then Tim Cahill arrived. Within minutes, he had found a little space in the area and scored. That was it.
Game over, 1-0 and three points. That is what the veteran can still do, make the difference when it matters.
It can be the same in the A-League, a competition that, despite plenty of bumps in the road, is moving along nicely. Without Cahill it is fine, with him, there will be a little extra. A few more opportunities can be put away.
The debate has been around for years. Will he, won’t he? Should he, shouldn’t he? Indeed, should we?
Now the proof will be in the budding A-League season. Cahill is the biggest name in Australian football, now the biggest name in then A-League and still one of the biggest in Asian football.
As all know, there is more to Cahill’s return than what happens on the various pitches. He is there to put the ball in the net, bums on seats, fingers on remote controls and the A-League in the headlines.
In some ways – injury side – he can’t fail. An under-performing Cahill provides a narrative and debate that would rack up the column inches in the newspapers and wear down keyboards in rooms up and down the land.
While he is obviously not the player he was, Cahill has always been pretty good at doing what is expected and more.
In 2015, there were an increasing number of famous foreign players heading to the Middle Kingdom, but Shanghai Shenhua fans were delighted at the arrival of the former Everton star who scored both goals that knocked China out of the 2015 Asian Cup at the quarter-final stage.
Shanghai had been a power in Chinese football in the nineties and early part of the new millennium but despite, or perhaps partly because of, the 2012 short-lived signings of Nicolas Anelka and Didier Drogba, the team had slipped into mid-table mediocrity.
The fans, the Blue Devils, some of the most loyal in China, deserved better and got it in Cahill. Here was a player with a big reputation who gave everything. It took time for the perspiration to be matched by goals, but in the end the goals came. Not only fans loved him but teammates paid tribute to the example set. The only regret was defeat in the FA Cup final at the hands of Jiangsu Sainty.
Cahill was surprisingly released by Shanghai at the start of the 2016 season. Clubs in Korea and Japan, as well as Australia, were interested. He is the one Socceroo instantly recognisable all around Asia.
He moved to Hangzhou on a short-term contract. He helped a young team and young coach in Hong Myong-Bo. The club wanted him to stay, Hong said simply that Cahill had done that was expected and more.
Now with Melbourne City, Cahill is already making his presence felt. Outside Australia, his name leads previews about the new season.
In recent years, Cahill has come in for flak in Australia. I remember the post-match press conference against Serbia at the 2010 World Cup when there was open hostility between the player and Aussie press.
Perhaps it relates to his attitude in the past about coming back to the A-League, or an undoubted talent for selling himself, a perceived sense of self-entitlement or the good old knocking of a successful person. It doesn’t really matter.
More important is the fact that he will not only keep corner flags and defenders on their toes but the A-League is in the news at home and abroad.
Tim Cahill can still make a difference.
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